diff --git a/src/LogWriterAscii.cc b/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
index c537587d6a..fc70730d86 100644
--- a/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
+++ b/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
@@ -216,6 +216,9 @@ bool LogWriterAscii::DoWriteOne(ODesc* desc, LogVal* val, const LogField* field)
 bool LogWriterAscii::DoWrite(int num_fields, const LogField* const * fields,
 			     LogVal** vals)
 	{
+	if ( ! file )
+		DoInit(Path(), NumFields(), Fields());
+
 	ODesc desc(DESC_READABLE);
 	desc.SetEscape(separator, separator_len);
 
@@ -245,19 +248,23 @@ bool LogWriterAscii::DoWrite(int num_fields, const LogField* const * fields,
 bool LogWriterAscii::DoRotate(string rotated_path, double open,
 			      double close, bool terminating)
 	{
-	if ( IsSpecial(Path()) )
-		// Don't rotate special files.
+	// Don't rotate special files or if there's not one currently open.
+	if ( ! file || IsSpecial(Path()) )
 		return true;
 
 	fclose(file);
+	file = 0;
 
 	string nname = rotated_path + ".log";
 	rename(fname.c_str(), nname.c_str());
 
 	if ( ! FinishedRotation(nname, fname, open, close, terminating) )
+		{
 		Error(Fmt("error rotating %s to %s", fname.c_str(), nname.c_str()));
+		return false;
+		}
 
-	return DoInit(Path(), NumFields(), Fields());
+	return true;
 	}
 
 bool LogWriterAscii::DoSetBuf(bool enabled)
diff --git a/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/rotate.bro b/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/rotate.bro
index a799f6281d..14123c56c6 100644
--- a/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/rotate.bro
+++ b/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/rotate.bro
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# @TEST-EXEC: bro -r %DIR/rotation.trace %INPUT 2>&1 | grep "test" >out
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b -r %DIR/rotation.trace %INPUT 2>&1 | grep "test" >out
 # @TEST-EXEC: for i in test.*.log; do printf '> %s\n' $i; cat $i; done >>out
 # @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out